Today Square Enix announced that a pre-launch celebration show will be hosted a few days before Final Fantasy XVI releases.
The announcement, made on social media, mentions that the show will happen in Los Angeles at 3:00 pm PDT on June 11, 2023. That translates into 6:00 pm EDT, 11:00 pm BST, and midnight CEST.
No further information on the show has been provided, but it's quite possible that the developer may release the previously mentioned demo of the game at the same time, albeit that's just my personal speculation, so take it with the customary grain of salt. We heard that the plan is to launch shortly before the game's release, and June 11 certainly fits that definition.
Of course, the show will be livestreamed, so if you can't be in Los Angeles, you'll still be able to check it out.
If you're unfamiliar with Final Fantasy XVI, it's the next mainline game of the ultra-popular fantasy series by Square Enix. The game's development is spearheaded by many developers from the Final Fantasy XIV team, which certainly isn't shocking considering the success of the latest MMORPG of the series, which has passed 27 million registered accounts worldwide as of last year.
Among the team, fans may recognize producer Naoki Yoshida, director Hiroshi Takai, writer and creative director Kazutoyo Maehiro, artist Hiroshi Minagawa, composer Masayoshi Soken, and many more.
The game is said to feature a darker take on the Final Fantasy concept, while its battle system is fully action-based. Yet, you can expect plenty of traditional concepts from the series including summons, Chocobos, and Moogles.
The scheduled release date is June 22, 2023, for now only for PS5, and the game has already gone gold. A PC version is also likely coming at some point, albeit there is no official release date for it at the moment.
While we wait, you can also take a look at plenty of gameplay shown at PAX East and more showcased during a State of Play presentation a few days ago. We also got the reveal of the game's theme song by Kenshi Yonezu, titled "Moongazing."
